Puppy Power!
Puppy Power! is the first of two stories in ''Cartoon Network Presents'' #24, by DC Comics, and the only one centered around Scooby-Doo. Premise Scrappy takes a pizza delivery boy to investigate a zombie sighting after his mystery solving skills are put into question. Synopsis After a long day of mystery solving, Scrappy is unable to convince Shaggy and his Uncle Scooby to investigate a recent zombie sighting. As soon as they fall asleep however, a pizza delivery boy arrives and, despite being fans of Mystery Incorporated, questions Scrappy's abilities to solve a case. This leads Scrappy to drag the kid (only referred to as Pizza Boy) out of the apartment. Driving the boy's delivery van to the Harstone Mansion, Scrappy has the frightened kid accompany him inside. Although their first encounter with a zombie turns out to be nothing but a wax dummy, the second one proves to be a legitimate monster. The zombie chases them through the home, until Scrappy and the pizza boy fall through the floor, into a basement storage area. Here, the duo discover a few key clues (special effects makeup and a repaired photo) and proceed to "trap" the zombie when the pizza boy ties its shoelaces together while Scrappy is causing a distraction. Soon after, two police officers and Sam Harstone, owner of the mansion, arrive, and the zombie is revealed to be Sam's ex-wife, Sally. She confesses her actions were done out of love and a desire to rekindle their relationship, leading Sam to agree to giving them another chance. Scrappy and the pizza boy return to Shaggy's apartment where they finally deliver the pizzas. Unfortunately for Scrappy, neither Shaggy nor Scooby believe he was able to solve a case on his own and when he turns to his only eye witness, it's revealed that the pizza boy has returned to his van, suddenly having remembered he's got more pizzas to deliver. Characters Main characters: * Scrappy-Doo Supporting characters: * Pizza guy Villains: * Zombie * Sally Harstone Other characters: * Scooby-Doo * Shaggy Rogers * Sam Harstone * Policeman * Policewoman * * Pizza guy's mother * Sherlock Holmes Locations * Shaggy's apartment * Main Street ** Harstone Mansion *** Basement * Kurtin Avenue Objects * Beanbag chairs * Three boxes of anchovy-mustard-goulash-pineapple pizza * Pizza boy's flashlight * Scrappy's flashlight * Wax finger * Wax dummies * Special effects makeup * Photo of Sam & Sally Harstone Vehicles * Pizza van * The Mystery Machine Suspects * None Culprits Full credits The following credits try to match how they are displayed in the comic as much as possible: * Terry Collins - Writer * John Delaney - Pencils * Mike DeCarlo - Inks * Dave Tanguay - Colors * Phil Felix - Letters * Harvey Richards - Assists * Dana Kurtin - Edits Notes/trivia * This story comes as a surprise, since two years before that in their letters column of Scooby-Doo, DC Comics were objectively against having Scrappy appear. * Daphne, Fred, and Velma are absent, as per the TV series Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (second series). Although Shaggy seems to imply that they've been very successfully solving mysteries without them, opening the comic by stating they've solved mysteries involving mummies, phantoms and headless horsemen all in the same day. * According to the pizza boy, Mystery Incorporated is fairly well-known for their mystery solving talents, with Shaggy and Scooby mentioned to be his idols. Sam Harstone further adds to this theory when he's furious that he got "two kids" despite hiring Mystery Incorporated. * The trope of "hating on Scrappy-Doo" is presented in a more tongue-in-cheek fashion than other portrayals of the character at the time. ** It's alluded to by Scrappy, who speaks to the "fourth wall", when referring to the pizza boy as part of the "Gen X" guys that disrespect him. * Scrappy's shown to be capable of driving a car, albeit poorly, when seated on several books and given springs to reach the pedals. * This story possibly depicts the first openly divorced couple in the Scooby-Doo franchise. Miscellaneous * Disguises: None. * Scooby Snacks bribe: 0. * "Ruh-roh" count: 0. * "Zoinks" count: 1. * "Puppy power" count: 5 (4 from Scrappy, 1 from pizza guy) * "Splat" count: 1. Cultural references * There's a poster for the Grateful Dead on a wall in Shaggy's apartment, complete with their Skull logo and the year 1973, which is the same year that one of the band's founding members, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, died. * Kurtin Avenue is named after the editor, Dana Kurtin. * On a wall in the Harstone Mansion's basement are posters of Sherlock Holmes and Hamlet. Coloring mistakes * None known. Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities * Unlike other times in which Shaggy's residence is shown to be a suburban home, this story features Shaggy, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy living together in an apartment in the city. * With Sam Harstone's statement that he hired Mystery Incorporated to solve this mystery and Scrappy's earlier comment to Shaggy and Scooby that they've got a zombie sighting to investigate, this seems to imply that Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy are utilizing the Mystery Incorporated name without the rest of the gang. 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